BatRep: Empire of the Blazing Sun vs Kingdom of Britannia – Box Sets (~700pts)

So we are having a Dystopian Wars Games Day at Legiocon (http://www.legiocon.ca/) in 2 weeks in Winnipeg (Canada).  I’m trying to get more familiar with my fleets and haven’t used the British in ages.  As will be shown in the battle report…

Thurston was also ready for a scrap with his Empire of the Blazing Sun.  We’ve been playing 1000-1200 points lately so downgrading was going to be interesting.  Amazing how much a difference 300 points makes!

So the Kingdom of Britannia Box set (KoB) vs the Empire of the Blazing Sun (EoBS).  Should be interesting.

Empire of the Blazing Suns added Incendiary Rounds to the cruisers and a Shield to the Battleship.

Kingdom of Britannia added a Shield Generator to the Battleship, Expert Engineers to the Cruisers, but kept all turrets on the Cruisers rather than sub out for a Shield Generator.

There was an island in each quadrant so there was lots of cover on a 4 X 4 table.

Deployment:

British deployment, left to right:
Frigates on the outside of the left-most island, Bombers with Fighters hiding behind the island, then in the channel between the islands there was another Frigate Squadron, the Cruisers and finally the last Frigate squadron.  The Battleship hid behind the island with a squadron of fighters ready to provide CAP, if need be.

Japanese Deployment from the British Left to right:
Frigates also on the outside of their leftmost island, two squadrons of Fighters, then Frigates just on the inside of the island.  The Cruisers, Frigates and Battleship were all clumped together at the inner edge of the Right-Side Island, angled to go to the left.  Bombers hid behind the island, ready to overfly.

After we rolled for missions objectives, we both decided to go back to default: 70% of fleet points (about on the 490 points).

Pre-Turn Shenanigans!

So, using the Card deck turned out to be an exercise in frustration.  After simultaneously revealing cards, KoB played “Broken Code” and threw away “Bulls Eye” & “Thunderous Volley” from the EOBS card hand.  However EoBS had played “Tactical Aid” and drew two more cards, getting replacements for their lost 2 cards.

KoB wins the Initiative

Turn 1!

So, British bomber squadron started things off, flew over the island on the left, lined up and fired a salvo of torpedoes at a Japanese Cruiser, scoring a Hit at Range Band 4!  The EoBS Cruisers sallied forth and fired upon the bombers for revenge with their rockets, but the Bombers AA crews managed to shoot down 8 rockets in an amazing display of Marksmanship!  No damage to the Bombers!  The KoB Central Frigate Squadron moved forward and turned to present their Port Torpedo Tubes towards the damaged Cruiser, launching another Salvo, but failed to damage the Cruiser.

Countering, the Right EoBS Frigates poured out from their deployment zone and engaged the exposed KoB Frigate Squadron, sinking 1 and damaging another!  First Blood to the Empire!  Fortunately, the Frigates passed their Break Test.  The British sent out another Frigate squadron and manage to damage 2 of the Japanese Frigates. 

Japanese bombers flew out from behind the right Island and fired their rockets at the British Battleship.  Once more, astounding AA gunnery stopped the worst of the rockets, preventing any damage.  The KoB Battleship played “Stoke the Engines”, and sallied out from behind the island, turned her broadsides and turrets towards the Frigates and Cruisers.  Failing to damage the Cruisers, the Battleship did sink a damaged Frigate and damaged 1 more.  The EoBS Battleship sailed forth and fired rockets at the Battleship and turrets at the Frigates.  While it failed damage the Battleship, it succeeded in damaging 1 Frigate. 

Worried about the bombers heading toward their Battleship, the British sent 1 squadron of Fighters to act as CAP for the Battleship.  Japanese sent a squadron of Fighters to the center of the table – ready to go either direction as they saw fit.  As a defensive measure, the British sent a second Fighter Squadron behind the British Bombers.  Japanese Fighters cruised toward the British bombers as well.

British Cruisers sallied out and managed to sink the 2 remaining Japanese Frigates from the Center Squadron.  The Japanese finally sent out their Center Frigate Squadron and fired on the Frigates but failed to damage any.  This left the last two Frigate Squadrons on the far left of the islands.  The British had to move first and moved attack the Center Frigate Squadron, but only managed to damage 1.  The Last Japanese Frigates played Stoke the Engines and crossed the table, sinking 2 Frigates and damaging the last (who managed to pass his Break test).

Turn 2

The Card Battles continued and we played the same cards again – in reverse!

EoBS: Played “Break Code” and tossed out 2 “Fire Fighter” cards in my hand (DANG!  I probably was going to need those!).  However:

KoB: Played Tactical Aid and picked up 2 more cards!

EoBS wins Initiative!

The Japanese fighters closest to the bombers attacked the British Bombers.  Fortunately, the British AA shot down 1 token and drove off the Fighters before they could attack!  The British bombers advanced their minimum move and launched another Torpedo Attack on the damaged cruiser, but missed.  The Bombers AA shot down another 3 Fighter tokens though, leaving just 1 fighter token in the flight!  The Bomber AA crew will be up for Commendations!!! 

The Japanese Bombers went next, played “Furious Assault” and attempted to board 2 of the British Frigates, capturing 1 and taking out 1 AP on the other.  One bomber then successfully climbed into the clouds.  The remaining Frigates of the Squadron fired on the bombers, successfully damaging 1, and sank a nearby Japanese Frigate with turrets.  The Japanese Frigates on the left caused a Critical Hit (Crit) on a Bomber (Systems), then successfully captured the lone British Frigate.  The British Frigates in the center tried to turn and engage the Frigates, but one was unable to make the turn and stopped short before ramming a British Cruiser.  The Japanese center Frigates advanced and fired in all directions, but failed to hit Cruisers, Frigates or Bombers!

In a moment of Inspired Stupidity, the British Cruisers move forward and catch the Japanese Frigates in the perfect Broadside positions!  Except I forgot the Cruisers don’t have Broadsides!!!  :-O  Fortunately, I DID take a 2^nd Turret rather than Shield Generators, so the rear turrets successfully sank both Frigates.  The front turrets failed to hit the Cruisers.  The Japanese Cruisers, in a flashy display of Synchronized Sailing made an incredibly stylish and tight turn, then got a Crit on the other Bomber (Nav Lock) and sank a frigate – leaving the last frigate to fail its Break Test.

British fighters attempt to shoot down some bombers but instead loose 2 of their own.  The Japanese put another point of damage on the British bombers, losing one of their fighters as well. 

At this point, we were running low on time, so we only activated our Battleships.  The British battleship managed to damage 1 bomber with its broadsides, damaged a Cruiser with its Turrets, but the torpedoes missed.  The Japanese Battleship fired rockets and turrets.  The rockets missed but the Turrets did a Double Crit on a Cruiser.  One crit was the dreaded “Magazine Explosion” – damaging another Cruiser that was nearby.  

(Thurston went a little crazy at this point but deserved the moment.  First game I had against his EoBS fleet, I had caused him to loose a couple of ships with Magazine Explosions.  He was Vindicated!)

End Score:

Kingdom of Britannia:              210 pts
Empire of the Blazing Sun:       350 pts

Japanese Victory!

Well – that didn’t go well!!!

My Primary fleets for Dystopian are Prussian and Russian.  I inherited the Britannia fleet when a friend moved away and really haven’t used it much.  All 3 fleets play very differently and my lack of experience with the Britannia really hampered their effectiveness.

For the British: I had a plan.  Honest!  I DID!!!  I knew my torpedoes were best at Range Band 2 (8” – 16”) and that the closer I got, the less effective the EoBS rockets would be and the better it “should” be for me!  I had intended to go forward and “Cross the T”, letting the Cruisers shoot both their Turrets (front & back) and wreck havoc everywhere.  Instead, I got into a traffic jam, which kept the Rear Turrets out of the fight for most the game. 

Worse, I forgot my ships capabilities.  It was DUMB that I forgot the Cruisers had no broadside weapons.  Looking at the photos, I don’t think I should have sunk the 2 Frigates in the “Broadsides” – I probably should have had a penalty (we forgot in the heat of the moment) and fired ½ the dice.  Both Japanese Frigates probably would have survived.  (Shame, shame, shame!)

I also underestimated the Boarding Capabilities of the Japanese.  In hind-sight, I should have held the Frigates back, not left them so vulnerable to Boarding.  I had planned to recapture the one frigate taken as a prize but we discovered the Japanese Bombers were too close and would have provided AA support if I had attempted to recapture the prize.  With as few Boarding Parties as I could have used, the risk was too high to attempt.

On the Japanese side, I can’t find fault.  He knew what his fleet was good at and he played it to its strengths.  I may have damaged a Cruiser early on and had a couple of minor victories during the game but my opponent shrugged it all off, came at me with a plan and never looked back!  I have no doubt that if we played another turn, the Empire of the Blazing Sun would have had total Victory.  

Well earned Win, Thurston!